Dr Jenny Spiga

Pronouns: She/her
  • Lecturer
Publications

Jenny completed her PhD in Physics in 2008 from the University of Cagliari (Italy) in joint collaboration with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble (France). In 2008 she secured a ‘Master and Back fellowship’ from the University of Cagliari to work on dosimetry for Microbeam Radiation Therapy.

In 2017 Jenny joined the University of Warwick as Daphne Jackson Fellow. She then became Assistant Professor, working on two STFC Impact Acceleration Accounts and focusing on the use of dose enhancers and synchrotron radiation to improve the efficacy of radiotherapy.

In September 2023 Jenny joined Loughborough University as Lecture in Physics. Her current research focuses on radiation therapy including dosimetry, Monte Carlo modelling, dose enhancement and new sources to maximise the efficacy and reduce the treatment time.

Research areas:

  • Radiation cancer therapy and Imaging.
  • Healthcare technology.
  • X-ray sources and detectors, synchrotron sources experiments.
  • Monte Carlo simulations, development and implementation of software for experiments, data analysis.
  • Dosimetry and microdosimetry.
  • Radiobiology.
  • Dose enhancement and nanoparticles.

Funding Bodies: Reviewer for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and TUM-IAS Albrecht Struppler Clinician Scientist Fellowships.

Journals: Reviewer for Medical Physics, International Scientific Journal of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Physics in Medicine and Biology, Physica Medica, IEEE Transactions in Nuclear Science, Journal of Physics of condensed matter, Nanotechnology, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, Applied radiation and isotopes, Radiation and Environmental Biophysics.

Books: Reviewer for CRC press, Taylor and Francis group.

Research Culture: Member of the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES).

Since 2021 I have been working on projects that aim at contributing to a research culture that supports the development of strong identities and academic mindsets to underrepresented groups in STEM research.

In 2022 the project 'Reimagining a STEM Research Culture: Lessons Learnt from 20 years of Evolution for Inclusive Representation in Science and Engineering' investigated why women, people with disabilities and those from ethnic minorities or socially disadvantaged groups are consistently underrepresented, particularly at senior levels, in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

A second project 'Towards a Warwick STEM R&D People and Culture Hub: Empowering People's Voices' embraced the vision of the first project to empower people's voices via a series of virtual and on-campus events, videos and case studies that will celebrate and showcase impactful research, and encourage access to, and participation in, research for underrepresented groups.

For more information click here

 

  1. E. L. Tassano-Smith, E. L. Wilkinson, J. A. Duffy, J. Spiga, “A microdosimetry application for Microbeam Radiation Therapy dose delivery using TOPAS”, IEEE NSS MIC (2020).
  2. J.Spiga, P. Pellicioli, J. Duffy, S. Manger, A. Bravin, “Monte Carlo study of dose deposition in kilovoltage X-ray radiotherapy using gold as dose enhancer”, ESTRO (2020).
  3. J. Spiga, P. Pellicioli, S. Manger, J. Duffy, A. Bravin, “Experimental benchmarking of Monte Carlo simulations for radiation therapy dosimetry using uniform monochromatic X-ray beams”, Phys Med 66(10):25-54 (2019). doi: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2019.09.075
  4. J. Spiga, J. Duffy, P. Pellicioli, S. Manger, A. Bravin, “A Geant4 study on the comparison of the absorption of low energy X-rays in water and PMMA phantoms”, IEEE NSS MIC (2019), 10.1109/NSSMIC.2018.8824509.
  5. P. Romanelli, G. Battaglia, E. Bräuer-Krisch, Y. Prezado, H. Requardt, G. Le Duc, D. J. Anschel, E. Fardone, J. Spiga, A. Bravin, “Synchrotron-generated Microbeam Sensorimotor Cortex Transections Induce Seizure Control Without Disruption of Neurological Functions”, PloS One, 8(1): e53549 (2013); doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053549. ISSN: 1932-6203.
  6. V. Fanti, G.R. Fois, R. Marzeddu, C. Pili, P. Randaccio, S. Siddhanta, J. Spiga and A. Szostak, “A Dedicated Processor for Monte Carlo Computation in Radiotherapy”, NSS MIC, (2010). ISSN: 1082-3654.
  7. J. Spiga, Y. Prezado, E. Bräuer-Krisch, V. Fanti, P. Randaccio, and A. Bravin, “The Effect of Beam Polarization in Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT): Monte Carlo Simulations Using Geant4”, IEEE NSS MIC (2009). ISSN: 1082-3654.
  8. R. Serduc, A. Bouchet, E. Bräuer-Krisch, J. A. Laissue, J. Spiga, S. Sarun, A. Bravin, C. Fonta, J. Boutonnat, F. Estève, G. Le Duc, “Synchrotron microbeam radiation therapy for rat brain tumor palliation. Influence of the microbeam width at constant valley dose”, Physics in Medicine and Biology, 54, 6711 (2009). ISSN: 0031-9155.
  9. V. Fanti, R. Marzeddu, C. Pili, P. Randaccio, S. Siddhanta, J. Spiga and A. Szostak, “ Dose calculation for radiotherapy treatment planning using Monte Carlo methods on FPGA based hardware”, Real Time Conference Record. IEEE (2009). ISBN: 978-1-4244-4454-0.
  10. M. De Felici, E.A. Siegbahn, J. Spiga, A.L. Hanson, R. Felici, C. Ferrero, A. Tartari, M. Gambaccini, J. Keyriläinen, E. Bräuer-Krisch, P. Randaccio and A. Bravin, “ Monte Carlo code comparison of dose delivery prediction for Microbeam Radiation Therapy”, Journal of Physics, Volume 102, Issue 1, pp. 012005 (2008). ISSN: 17426588.
  11. J. Spiga, E. A. Siegbahn, E. Bräuer-Krisch, P. Randaccio, and A. Bravin, “Geant4 Simulations for Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT) Dosimetry”, IEEE NSS MIC (2007). ISSN: 1082-3654.
  12. J. Spiga, E.A. Siegbahn, E. Brauer Krisch, P. Randaccio, and A. Bravin, “The Geant4 toolkit for microdosimetry calculations: an application to microbeam radiation therapy (MRT)”, Med. Phys. 34, 4322 (2007). ISSN: 0094-2405.
  13. V. Fanti, R. Marzeddu, C. Pili, P. Randaccio, and J. Spiga, “Monte Carlo computations for radiotherapy with the use of dedicated processors”, IEEE NSS MIC (2006). ISSN: 1082¬3654.
  14. J. Spiga, E.A. Siegbahn, E. Brauer Krisch, P. Randaccio, and A. Bravin, “Microdosimetry for Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT): theoretical calculations using the Monte Carlo toolkit Geant4”, IEEE NSS MIC Page(s):1363 - 1367, (2006).